


home.

by jangjoos



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, hurt/comfort? kinda??, jangbeom bc they deserve a fic and im rarepair trash, like. driving away from a deadly zombie army. that kind of road trip., road trips! but not the happy kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 16:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18264881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jangjoos/pseuds/jangjoos
Summary: The landscape was monotonous, flat, and arid. The road was rough and poorly maintained. The sun was deathly, fiery, wrathful in the sky. The only direction they could drive was away, the only home they had was wherever, and the only solace they could find was in each other.





	home.

Nobody saw them coming.

First, there was one, two, three. Lone outbreaks nestled within rural towns that barely managed to claw their way into mainstream media. These ‘patient zeros’ were caught and sent to local sanitariums to live out the rest of their days in isolation. It was a rather fascinating new condition, one to which doctors and scientists in many fields took interest, but the public paid little heed. They were crazy, they thought. Simply crazy. And that was all there is to it.

And then there were more.

This illness took over the brain, turned people into little more than stumbling, manic beasts. You see, one or a few of these patients could not do much. They were fast, but only as fast as the average human could run, save for the added burden of an almost drunken lilt to their steps. They could be shot, tasered, even wrestled down or brawled; but when several of them gather in one place, when a crowd of freaks rally to chase innocent civilians down city streets, they became an unstoppable wave of madness and decay, of rot and horror. If a person were to see a swarm of them stampede down the avenue, feel staggered footsteps shake the earth, they could only hope for a swift demise before joining the zombie ranks themselves.

And these waves, these torrents of parading zombies only grew bigger and bigger. They accumulated into a terrifying army, a miasma that conquered ceaselessly and left death and destruction wherever it went. Like a hungry serpent, it ate up civilians and spread after every town, every city it took. Major cities of the world fell to dust and darkness, and soon, so did powers, nations, entire societies.

The zombies took everything.

And nobody saw them coming.

* * *

 

“Do you see them, hyung?”

Jangjun squinted into the distance, hand raised to shield his eyes from the hot desert sun.

The dark mass was approaching.

Once, it had been a looming threat over their heads, a promise of a fate worse than death. Now, it was nothing more than a fact of life.

The dark mass is always approaching. Run. Do not let them close the distance. Keep running, you’re never safe.

“We should go,” Jangjun told Jibeom. Jibeom nodded, then began to pack their things into the trailer.

Still keeping an eye over the horizon, Jangjun climbed down from his vantage point on the dune, sand sliding down underneath his shoes. The air shimmered in the distance, and for a moment, he could almost pretend that the army of zombies was nothing but an ocean wave crashing down upon a faraway coastline.

A few weeks before the outbreaks began, Jangjun had decided to surprise Jibeom with a vacation.

It was not like many other vacations. They would rent a trailer car for a few months, would drive it out into the desert and explore the wilds, the vast lands beyond any city they knew. As it turned out, isolation was the key to their survival. They did not know of the epidemic until an army of zombies had begun to gather in the distance, did not know of humanity’s fall until all means of communication to the rest of the world had begun to break down.

“Hyung, can I drive?” Jibeom asked, snapping Jangjun out of his thoughts.

“Of course, babe,” Jangjun responded idly, handing him the keys.

Jibeom played an old album as he drove along. The last town they visited several days ago was empty, abandoned, but it had several amenities. A grocery store had restocked their supplies and gasoline. A small record store had added fresh beats to Jibeom’s music collection.

“Where to?” Jibeom asked.

Jangjun laughed drily. “Do we ever know?”

Jibeom shrugged. “Thought I’d ask. Just in case.” He pushed his foot down on the gas. The truck shook as they hit rocks and bumps across the long, desolate road.

“Home, then,” Jangjun said, not at all seriously. But to that, Jibeom nodded.

“Home.”

They drove all day. They had to. The landscape was monotonous, flat, and arid. The road was rough and poorly maintained. The sun was deathly, fiery, wrathful in the sky.

“Hey, Jibeom?”

“Yeah, hyung?”

Jangjun looked outside the window, eyes wandering, searching. “I spy with my little eye…Something that is,” he paused, glancing upwards.

“Blue.”

“The sky?” Jibeom replied, lifting a hand to fix the rearview mirror.

Jangjun felt a smile etch across his face. “How’d you guess?” Jibeom looked over at him and grinned back.

The road signs, it seemed, were in varying conditions. Some had fallen over, some were clinging to the ground, some were fairly intact. There was one lonely sign still standing at the side of the road-- far off, but gradually growing closer.

“There’s a town here,” Jangjun noted. “How long can we stop?”

There was a screech as Jibeom suddenly pulled over, and Jangjun reeled back.

“A while,” Jibeom said. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Night had fallen. The mass was almost entirely invisible through the darkness. The moon was a thin, delicate crescent. The sky was freckled with bright, twinkling stars. On the ground, the only light for thousands of miles was an image of the moon reflected in a distant oasis and the warm light that shone from within their trailer car.

Just then, something creaked. Jibeom opened the door.

“Hyung, you aren’t going to come inside?”

“Coming,” Jangjun called back. He stood up with a sigh, then turned around.

For dinner, they had instant noodles cooked in what little water they had left. Luckily for them, the nearby town seemed to have fresh water. Jangjun slurped loudly as he ate. Jibeom ate with a little more delicacy, although he was still evidently hungry.

“Jangjun-hyung,” Jibeom said at the table. Cautious, a bit confrontational. “Why are we running?”

Jangjun felt his blood run cold.

“What?”

Jibeom pursed his lips.

“I don’t know. They’re going to outrun us, eventually. We’ll get caught by the mass. We’ll die struggling.” He scrambled the noodles with his chopsticks. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just settle? Find a town, live out what little time we have left?”

For a moment, silence.

“It would be easier,” Jangjun agreed, “easier, but would it be better?”

Jibeom did not reply.

“Jibeom,” Jangjun said, holding out a hand. “I know it’s hard to stay hopeful. But I know you, Jibeom. You don’t want to die. None of us do.” He gestured out the window, towards the back of the trailer-- at the dark mass. “None of them did. But look at us. We’re alive, love. We’re alive and there’s hope.”

Tentatively, Jibeom took Jangjun’s hand across the table. Jangjun smiled.

“There’s still fight in you yet.”

Jibeom let out a long, shaky breath.

“You know,” he told Jangjun, “I don’t think I’d have survived this long with anybody else.”

Jangjun stood up and joined Jibeom on his side of the table. He took his hand again, clutched it tightly, then leaned against his shoulder.

“I’m glad I’m with you, then,” Jangjun said. “I’d like you to survive. No matter what.”

Jibeom twirled a strand of Jangjun’s curly hair. Jangjun closed his eyes and felt himself begin to drift.

* * *

 

The town was built around what looked like an old mine, a radio tower, and a lush oasis. It used to be a sprawling place, almost a city, but now it was nothing but a conglomerate of empty houses and abandoned storefronts.

Jangjun walked up to one of the buildings. Jibeom bent down to pick up a piece of scrap metal.

“Did everyone leave, or did they…?”

“They left,” Jangjun confirmed. “If the virus had spread here, the mass would be a lot bigger.”

The radio tower that stood at the center of the town creaked as they walked underneath. Wires crackled, sparks flew. A quiet but incessant hum pervaded the area; the tower was calling out to the world to the best of its ability, singing the only note it knew.

But, as dead and disparate as everything seemed, Jangjun noticed something. He lifted a hand, signaling for Jibeom to stop.

“Someone was here.”

Jibeom looked around, confused at first, then blinked.

“The wires. They weren’t like this. No, someone fixed them.” he turned to Jangjun. “Someone was here.”

From behind him, Jangjun heard someone chuckle. Not Jibeom, no. That meant--

“Someone is here, actually,” said the stranger. Jibeom and Jangjun turned around.

The stranger was a man of middling height, though thin legs and a strong build made him look taller than he was. He wore a serene smile on his face, though dark circles were worryingly prominent underneath his eyes.

He held out a hand. “My name is Sungyoon, and I am a friend.”

Jangjun took his hand and shook it. “I’m Jangjun,” he gestured to Jibeom, “and this is my boyfriend Jibeom. It’s good to meet you.”

Jibeom shyly took a step forward, and Sungyoon shook his hand as well.

“We’re friends, too,” Jibeom told him, “we’d love to be your friends.”

* * *

 

Tea was probably a very rare commodity out in the desert.

Jangjun took a sip out of his cup. He almost felt bad, knowing that Sungyoon likely had a very limited supply, but Sungyoon had insisted on this gesture of hospitality. And he was quite stubborn about it. It was good tea, too. Just the right amount of bitter, rich, and sweet.

“Are you here alone, Sungyoon?” Jibeom asked, stirring sugar into his cup.

Sungyoon shook his head. “Someone else stayed. You’ll probably see him around. He usually comes back before nightfall.”

Sungyoon’s house was a quaint place. It was a bit bigger than a hut, though just as cozy. The living room felt intimate, yet not all that crowded, and the couch and loveseat were coated in a thin, delicate layer of velvet. Sungyoon sat on the loveseat, with Jangjun and Jibeom sharing the couch.

“Why did you guys stay?” Jangjun inquired. He tried his best to keep judgement and confusion out of his voice, however, hints of those emotions still indubitably leaked through. There were cars in the town, plenty of them. Hell, there was one parked outside of Sungyoon’s house, which he assumed was his.

Sungyoon leaned forward, then set his mug down on the coffee table. Then, he shrugged.

“Didn’t feel like it. I thought it was better to stay here, live out the rest of my days in peace than to run away and live in fear. Joochan thought the same way.” His voice grew grim. “At least this way, we’ll always know how long we have left.”

Jibeom suddenly became utterly fixated on his mug, idly turning it around to observe details that were not there.

* * *

 

The oasis was a curious place.

As soon as Jangjun was sure that Jibeom and Sungyoon were asleep, he snuck out, careful as not to make any sound with his footsteps. He traversed across the empty town, now even more ghostly under the cover of night, and stopped at the foot of the lake.

The moon was full, its image reflected on the surface of the water. In the water, it shone bright and luminous, though occasionally contorted by ripples brought about by the wind.

Jangjun sat down. His hand then wandered the ground next to him, wandered until his fingers found a shapely rock.

He tossed that rock into the lake. It skipped six times.

“Hey.”

Jangjun turned around, slightly alarmed. In the desert, one rarely had to worry about other souls, much less hostile ones. The desert was vast, empty, and whoever lived within had surely abandoned their homes after receiving news of the dark mass. So, being snuck up on was something foreign, something frightening.

It was a boy. In the moonlight, his brown hair took on a golden hue, and his kind eyes glittered incandescently.

“You must be Joochan,” Jangjun said.

Joochan nodded, then sat down next to him without another word.

“Sungyoon told me you’re usually back by sundown.” Jangjun tossed another rock into the lake. It skipped five times. “Why are you here?”

“Same as you, I suppose.” Joochan tossed a rock of his own. It skipped four times. “I’m here to reflect.”

A gust of wind blew across the desert. The palm trees that surrounded the lake bent and shook, the image of the moon reflected on the water twisted and lost shape. Jangjun felt sand hit his cheek.

“Joochan,” Jangjun said quietly. Joochan looked at him intently, and for a moment, their eyes met.

“Joochan, should we stay? Me and Jibeom, I mean.” He paused. “We seek sanctuary, but we don’t know if we can ever truly escape the horde. For all we know, this is the best sanctuary we’ll find. Even if it’s doomed.”

Joochan blinked. “You mean that you’ll give up?”

“It’s not giving up,” Jangjun protested, though he felt his voice falter.

Joochan looked away, looked up at the moon. Jangjun followed his gaze.

The moon in the sky was much more beautiful than its image on the water. This moon did not twist, did not lose shape, did not change with the wind. It shone brightly, and it only knew to shine.

“If you meant to give up,” Joochan told him quietly. “Why did you come this far at all?”

For a moment, Jangjun was silent.

“Come with us, then,” he urged. “We can run from the horde together. We’ll find sanctuary, live out our lives in peace, go _home--_ ”

But Joochan cut him off.

“Our home is here.” He tossed another rock into the lake. It skipped thrice.

“Our home is here. We wouldn’t be happier anywhere else. You and-- Jibeom, right? You and he wouldn’t be happy here. You’ll grow anxious as the horde approaches-- that’s why you started traveling in the first place, right? All that would result from this is the two of you losing precious time.”

Jangjun picked up a rock, observed it in his hands, then squeezed it as tightly as he could-- held it against his heart.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Joochan.”

When tossed, the rock skipped once and fell into the depths of the lake.

* * *

 

When sneaking back into the house, Jangjun tried his best to be careful as not to make any sound with his footsteps. He opened the door to the room that he and Jibeom shared for the night. Jibeom was fast asleep, his body rising and falling steadily as he breathed.

Carefully, Jangjun slipped in next to him, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and was alarmed when Jibeom opened his eyes

“I was wondering where you went,” Jibeom muttered sleepily.

Jangjun smiled gently, brushed Jibeom’s hair away from his eyes. “I went to reflect.”

Jibeom snuggled closer to him, buried his face in the crook of Jangjun’s neck.

“We’re leaving first thing tomorrow, right?”

Jangjun frowned.

“Jibeom,” he said. “Would you-- would you want to stay here? With Joochan and Sungyoon?”

Jibeom made a discontented noise.

“Of course not. I want to stay with you.”

“What if I stayed?”

“You wouldn’t.” Jibeom sounded like he was getting annoyed. He lifted his head to look Jangjun in the eye. “And neither would I. We have hope, remember? We have to go home.”

“But--”

“No buts. If we stay any longer, we’ll lose precious time. We leave tomorrow. Now get some sleep, love.”

Jangjun paused, then pressed a quick kiss onto Jibeom’s lips.

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Goodnight.”

* * *

 

And, in the morning, they drove on. They had to. After Joochan and Sungyoon saw them off, waving as they left, they disappeared behind them, and soon, they were gone. Might as well have been part of the dark mass. The landscape was monotonous, flat, and arid. The road was rough and poorly maintained. The sun was deathly, fiery, wrathful in the sky.

The only direction they could drive was away, the only home they had was wherever, and the only solace they could find was in each other.  

**Author's Note:**

> -everyone else is in this au too! since idk if im gonna write it ill just spill all my thoughts here  
> -daeyeol and bomin are stuck in a shelter underneath an overrun city. they cling onto the hope that someone will find them, will get them out of there, but really. when billions of lives have already been lost, who in their right minds would dive headfirst into the heart of the horde just to save a couple more?  
> -jaehyun and youngtaek are on an isolated island, where what might be the last of human society survives. are they completely safe? well i mean. there's a part of the horde that found the coast and they're now drifting around in the sea.  
> -donghyun and seungmin live within a tiny settlement in a dense part of the woods. every day, they kill several zombies, but with each passing day, there's more and more of them to fight off. it's starting to get a bit worrying.  
> -the dark mass catches up to sungyoon and joochan eventually.  
> make sure to comment and kudos if you enjoyed this ! :D my twitter is @goldemess if u wanna talk to me! i'm nice i swear!


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